He Doesn't Understand
by Mirths
Summary: Take one serious, stuck-up tennis team captain and mix with the skinny kid with palm tree-esque hair and excessive use of eyeliner. Chaos ensues: lessons learned hard. AkuRoku and others.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is the first piece of fanfiction I've ever written and I hope you guys enjoy it! This chapter is a bit slow but necessary for me to establish the setting as well as give some information on Roxas' background. Enjoy and hopefully, have fun! :D

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in the story. This story is write for my personal and my readers' enjoyment and not for profit. :)

**He Doesn't Understand**

**Chapter I**

**---  
**

September.

The month when everything in a student's life seemed to slowly awaken after the long slumber of the summer holidays. The month when another year of school would start and high school students would grudgingly pick up their dust-covered textbooks as they moan and weep about their ephemeral summer. They trudge unwillingly back to school, counting down the number of days left until Christmas break.

It was back to school at Stratford College, a top-notch boarding school located at the most-northern point of an obscure town. From a quick glance, the school was the epitome of the perfect institution, with its ivy-covered heather grey walls to the majestic pillars in front of the various buildings. In front of the entrance, cheerful guards smiled at all respectable persons and cracked their knuckles threatening at any suspicious looking stranger who crept along the school gate.

--

The gentle autumn breeze lingered at the campus of Stratford, the fresh scent of pine darting throughout the campus. It was only 8:00 a.m. and everything was quiet, so quiet that if one listened carefully enough, he would be able to hear the whispers of the weeping willows planted at the edges of the campus as its branches danced gracefully in the September breeze. Most of the students were sleeping in their dorm rooms; classes didn't start until 9:30.

Even though the quietness of the campus grounds made Roxas slightly uncomfortable, as if he was the object of interest in a scientific observation, the blonde was secretly glad that he was the only person in the schoolyard. Roxas was congenial, though not generally social. And it wasn't that he hated being around people: he simply relished the moments he had to himself. It was during these moments that he could daydream about the possibilities in life, and the things that he could do, they wonderful things that could happen. He was very polite and had a large number of acquaintances at school, with few close friends. His best friend in the world was his one-year younger sister, Naminé. Blonde with large, sky-blue eyes, people often mistaken the two for twins. But that was as far as their similarities went. Naminé was very free-spirited, studying visual art at some sort of alternative school while Roxas, well, was more academically-driven, as he liked to think of himself. He had a 4.0 GPA and was enrolled in the Advanced Placement program. He was the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper, captain of the tennis team and on the weekends, volunteered regularly at the local soup-kitchen and nursing home. He was on a one-track path to a top-tier university and this put the blonde in his comfort zone.

But every once in a while, Roxas would feel a sense of dread or longing upon him. These strange occurrences did not come about often but when it did, the blonde liked having some time alone to clear up his muddled thoughts and feelings. Sometimes, he was still uncertain about his life, his future and he wondered if he was doing the right thing, or if he was doing anything important at all. And at the present moment, on the first morning of the junior year of high school, Roxas had a lot going through his head. _It was bewildering, almost frightening,_ a tiny frown line appearing on the bridge of his nose as he mused,_ that there would only be two years left of high school_. And somewhere in Roxas' heart, he wondered if university would be an improvement over high school, or everything would be the same as they were now: unsurprising, repetitious, and loaded with dull work.

--

"Microeconomics, Biology, Calculus BC…and hm, French. All in Advanced Placement." The guidance counselor murmured as her eyes scanned dubiously over the crisp, newly-printed schedule on the table. "Are these really the courses you picked?"

"Uh-huh." Replied a melodious, sleepy-sounding voice. The was the sound of shuffling feet tapping on the linoleum floor.

There was a pause.

"Well, here is your schedule. And I hope you enjoy your year here, Axel Skinner."

--

BANG. The sound of the classroom door being pushed, or perhaps kicked, as the open burst open.

Worn Converse sneakers, skinny jeans with several cigarette-burnt holes, dirty, wrinkled white t-shirt with obscene words, and a head of lion mane-esque bright-red hair, in that order, descended down the steps into the classroom.

All the students looked up; Roxas included, as they stared with amazement at the unfamiliar face in front of them.

**---**

So what do you think so far? Do you like the story or is it too early to tell? Please R&R if you can: you get a cookie from Roxas if you do! 8D

NOTE: I changed some stuff to this chapter, mainly fixing mistakes that some readers and myself have caught. Some of the sentences are also rewritten but the general message is the same.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Axel, Roxas, or any of the characters used in the story. Nor do I own Kingdom Hearts, unfortunately. xD

A/N: Second chapter is up after only two days! And big thanks to Dance_Of_Flame for reviewing the first chapter: it really made my day!

**Chapter II**

Bizarre was the only word that could be used to describe Axel.

He was impossibly skinny, very tall, with ridiculously sharp cheekbones that gave his face a skeletal-like countenance. His clothes hung limply on his frail-looking figure, giving one the impression of a waif or starved orphan who had been vertically stretched out. His almond-shaped, bright green eyes with soot-like lashes surveyed his classmates as he walked towards the teacher's desk. His mouth was set in an odd position, the corners slightly upturned, that made it look as if he would burst into laughter any minute. His hair was spiked up, disarrayed, and he slouched casually against the blackboard, the darkness creating a vivid contrast with the flame-like hair.

Roxas can hear the whispers. He could already picture the various conjectures that his classmates made about the new student, the nouvelle and temporary object of interest.

"Who is that? I've never seen him before!"

"Either have I! Is he a druggie? He looks like he could be!"

"I think he looks weird! What kind of guy is that skinny and wears eyeliner?"

"Are those tattoos under his eyes?"

Axel was unconscious of the whispering that passed throughout the room like an exotic perfume that entranced all the people it touched; his attention was captured by the teacher's expression of utter shock upon his entry. Axel had been warned, upon his arrival at the school, that the dress code was albeit slightly "conservative" and he would do better to tame his "style". But the expression on 's face was too funny to resist: his eyes were wide open as he blinked several times at the boy in front of him, as if to confirm that his vision was indeed not playing a trick upon himself. Axel wanted to laugh, but he felt that it might be somewhat rude. He contended himself with extending his hand towards the teacher, his face breaking into a wide grin.

"I'm Axel Skinner, your new student who transferred here from Wellesley."

The teacher nodded slightly, after a long look at Axel, before he replied in a courteous sort of voice:

"Ah, yes, Axel Skinner...Well, Axel, my name is and welcome to the Advanced Placement Biology class. Please take a seat next to Demyx." Mr Kirkland managed a small smile and rubbed his hands together several time, before gesturing towards someone at the back of the class with slicked-back, butterscotch coloured hair.

Axel grinned at the teacher before striding over towards his destined seat, which was, as Roxas realized, just two seats behind himself.

--

The rest of the class passed rather uneventfully, as Roxas copied down the day's notes on DNA transcription and translation with an absent air; it was very irritating and difficult to concentrate as many of his classmates kept whispering to Axel with absurd questions such as "Is your hair real?" and "How on earth did you get to wear something like that to class?".

_God forbid_, Roxas thought, _that someone new comes to the school and they all descend down upon him like predators_.

_It's not like you haven't thought about doing the same thing yourself though_, a sneaky voice reminded him at the back of his head. After all, Stratford receives so little new students every year that anyone new was bond to seem sensational as soon as they set afoot on campus.

--

"How was your summer, Roxas?" Olette inquired as she set her olive-green eyes upon him, one hand on a yogurt container as the other twirled a plastic spoon inside the sticky, pink-looking goo. After two period of grueling hard work, it was finally lunch time. Pence and Olette sat opposite Roxas, who was beside Hayner.

"It was okay. I did some volunteering with orphans overseas. And I went on vacation for two weeks in Australia afterwards."

"Oh, that's nice! I didn't really get to go anywhere at well. I promised my parents that I would work hard at their store during the summer, and that's pretty much what I did."

"That's not too bad," Roxas replied. _After all_, he added mentally, _I had to live in shacks and trod through mud everyday. And smile as if I was having the time of my life._

"Well, Ms.C wants to speak to you afterwards about when you want to hold the tennis team tryouts. Apparently, a number of people have already expressed an interest an-....oh, look who's here, Roxas." Olette said as she waved her a hand towards someone behind Roxas, her lips suddenly crackled into an evil grin.

--

Axel was soon introduced to all of Demyx's friends. There was someone called Marluxia, with hair so pink that it could rival his own crimson locks. Someone with an eye patch called Xigbar. Then, there was a quiet guy called Zexion who was engrossed in some novel and a female with pale blonde hair in a champagne-like hue.

"Well, that's everyone that's here. Xemnes, Saïx, Lexaeus and a few others have disappeared. Dunno where they are."

"Probably molesting the new freshmen girls," the female replied nastily.

Demyx snorted.

"Oh please, you know Xemnas and Saïx are totally gay for each other and Vex-"

--

"Roxas!" a female's high pitched voice thrilled as Roxas felt his eye being covered by someone's hands. He could feel his captor's lips on his cheek as they puckered tenderly: mwah, mwah mwah! Three kisses of pure torture, before the female decided to let him go.

"Hello Kairi." Roxas murmured, his face beet-red as he hastily wiped at the spots where Kairi had moments before, graced with her highly-glossed lips. He had know for a while that the redhead liked him as more than just a friend but her audacity still made him feel very uncomfortable.

"I've missed you _so_ much in the summer! I called you a few times too, but you weren't home, apparently." Kairi said as she put her arms on her skinny waist, a small pout gracing her features as she gave a petulant toss of the head, the chop-stick straight hair dangling off to the side of her face like a waterfall.

"Oh, I've been overseas, doing some charity work. Sorry about that." Roxas replied politely, trying his best to look sorry. The truth was, he had gotten Kairi's messages before he left: he simply didn't feel like replying to them. Kairi may be very good-looking and very popular, but the thought of going out with her made Roxas feel queasy. He simply cannot picture himself with the fiery redhead, hugging her, kissing her, doing all those things that couples conventionally did.

"Well, now that you're back, we can hang out again so I guess it doesn't matter. I'll drop you a message tonight. See you Roxy!" Kairi waved as she turned around to leave. She was evidently pleased to discover that Roxas had not been ignoring her: there was a slight bounce in her steps and she sounded very cheerful when she gave Hayner, Pence and Olette a flirty little way before taking off. Both boys looked slightly dazed; Olette looked amused.

--

"So you should totally come to one of our band practices some time. We're pretty awesome already but we could definitely use a new sound: Larxene's voice isn't too good anyways and she's a huge pain in the ass, like, 99% of the time. She's always complaining and correcting us, even though she isn't much better."

Demyx was talking to Axel: Axel had caught a gist of something about a band and singing, though he wasn't very sure. He had just witnessed an interesting scene at a table not far away, and this occupied the majority of his attention. And besides, all he could hear now was Larxene, screaming something obscene at Demyx's comment.

"What's the name of the cute kid over there?" Axel inquired suddenly as he jerked him thumb towards Roxas' table, where moments ago, an attractive red-haired girl was babbling about something that Axel could not quite decipher, her arms afloat like a ballerina.

"Oh God, what is it with all you guys and Kairi?" Larxene replied, _rather rudely_, Axel thought, as she stared at him disapprovingly. "She isn't _that_ good-looking, and not to mention she's really annoying and a total bitch."

"I think she's hot," Marluxia chimed in as he looked at Larxene rather wickedly, a malicious smirk on his face.

Axel looked at both Larxene and Marluxia with mild surprise: they thought I was referring to the girl, he mused. And before Larxene could retort, Axel added:

"Who is that guy she's talking to?"

"Oh, that's Roxas. Straight-A student and the school's tennis captain. Kairi's been after him since the beginning of sophomore year, with no success." The triumphant was evident in Larxene's voice.

"Roxas......and no success huh?" Axel murmured as he turned around again. He took a long look at the blonde: Roxas was slumped against the plastic lunch table, with an expression of excruciating pain on his face.

--

So what did you think? This chapter was quite a bit longer than the last but I think it's better like this, don't you? And what do you think about Axel so far? Is he already interested in Roxas? Please R&R! It would make me really happy and feedback/criticism is always welcomed as well. :D

NOTE: So I realized that fanfiction has a tendency to delete some of my words at random. I didn't realize that the teacher's names and a couple of other stuff was deleted, as they were present in my document. I apologize to anyone who read the chapter before my corrections! ^^;


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